Steinel FL300W - 300 Watt Dual Flood Light Motion Sensor, White

Had previously bought motion lights at my local "big box" hardware stores for my current and prior houses. I had trouble with both. Both were overly sensitive and turned on with strong winds and often failed to turn on in bad weather. My most recent one was so unreliable, that I had it switched off most of the time. After some bugging of the wife, I did some research and found this light.All the reviews that I found (both here on Amazon and elsewhere)were positive. I installed it a few days ago and it has worked well so far. It is built well and appears to be designed well also. An example of this are the nice rubber gaskets encasing the light sockets, to keep them water tight. Much better than my prior motion light.So far, I have had no problems with it turning on due to wind. It also works fine so far in cold weather (low teens). The only nuisance so far was setting the length of time that I wanted it to remain on, after being activated. That took several tries, but now is fine. I also like that it uses regular flood lights, instead of the often used halogen bulbs. The floods are cheaper and I have more options for how many watts I want the bulbs to be.

Do NOT - under any circumstances order this worthless "light". The effective range - when properly mounted at 8' is less than 20 feet. Period. Regardless of adjustment, you will NOT get 20' range from this junk. Additionally, the "adjustable" arms adjust in only one direction: flopping and pointing straight down at the ground.I read all the reviews here and elsewhere on this junky light. Reviews were fair. SOMETHING has changed. Fair warning: if you want a good motion-detecting light, look SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Full disclosure. I own 4 of these, purchased though a lighting store, during new construction. That's why this review isn't a verified Amazon purchase. I'm so dissapointed in the design that I wanted to warn others. There are two set screws that you need to adjust to set the amount of 'on time' and the sensitivity (how close a person comes to the light). The location of these adjustment screws is so poor, its really, really had to adjust them. They put them under the light (rather than front facing) with white on white (almost impossible to read the printed 'sun' or 'moon', etc. The screws turn from left to right for adjustment, but they seem to just spin around. Its very hard to tell where in the adjustment zone they are. Steninel is a German company, so I expected more. Luckily I have a ranch to access isn't too bad (with a ladder). I wouldn't want to have to attempt and make adjustments up high. This is a case where the design looked good on the CAD drawing and met the specs and cost parameters, but no engineer actually tried to make the two adjustments as designed. If they did, they'd change it.

First I will say, motion sensors on any motion sensor light will fail over time. I planned for this and bought replacement sensors with my purchase of this light. If sensor life could be increased, I would give more stars. My research led me to Steinel, as one of the best outdoor motion sensor lights.I have bought three of these, one has been in service for three years now and needed the sensor replaced. Used a Steinel sensor as the replacing sensor. Hope to get three more years of good results. This light was mounted on a garage gable.This year I mounted two more Steinel motion sensor lights under the eve of a roof overhang to illuminate my yard.One of them failed within 3 month due to water intrusion and had to have the sensor replaced. When mounted under my eve, the Steinel light comes with a plastic pipe to do this mount (included). Light dropped out of pipe by 1/8 inch allowed water to enter light and sensor. Replaced sensor and caulked pipe and light. In service for two mounts now. Ok so far.

Only up a couple of days, but I agree with the other reviews. Excellent and very wide adjustments of the light aiming. The directions could be clearer in indicating that you have *two* adjustments for each light.Works fine with CF floodlight bulbs.Only problem, as a couple of other reviewers point out, is with the cheap lamp sockets. Most lamp sockets have a threaded metal sleeve that contacts the outer part of the lamp base at many places. On this unit, the threads are molded into the plastic; the only electrical contact for the outer part of the lamp base is a small and rather limp brass strip that doesn't always touch the lamp base. I had to unplug the unit and use a tiny screwdriver to bend the brass strip contact outward so that it would reliably contact the lamp base.So far, this unit is a lot better than the now-discontinued X-10 model. My X-10's became flaky in operation over time.

I searched for some time after going through several failed motion sensor lights. These illuminate the driveway and entry to my home so reliability is important. You can tell this light is manufactured with a higher level of plastic and components. The motion sensor worked flawlessly even in sub freezing temperatures. The prior two lights could not handle the extreme cold and stopped functioning. This light has been going strong since Oct 2009 and was worth the additional expense.

It's always a pleasure to see a product work as advertised, although more expensive, which is not a negative factor. This infrared sensor floodlight was easy to install and set up. Works great on night setting with a person approaching the light fixture from either side or straight on. Did not need to use sensor shields. A person cannot avoid activating the light by walking "under" the fixture. The only reason 5 stars was not awarded was I need to see some time pass...Have only had it installed for about 3 weeks. Completely satisfied so far and I highly recommend this product.